Employment Terminology – A job seekers A-Z guide

Working in the recruitment sector, you tend to forget that the language that recruiters and HR professionals use is often not commonly used in the ‘real world’. With this in mind, we thought it only fair to open up the employment terminology dictionary, so to speak, and create an A-Z guide to employment terminology to help job seekers along the way. (N.B. We did get rather stuck on Z as you will see!)

A = Assignment. A term often used by recruitment consultants to confirm temporary work to a temporary employee, the assignment is the confirmation details you will need prior to the temporary role starting.

B = Background Checks. This could involve anything from checking Police records through to credit checking, referencing and confirmation of education dates and qualifications.

C = Contract Role. This is a role that is for a set period and you know the proposed end date of the role prior to day one.

D = Dress code. This is always worth finding out about if you are lucky enough to be offered ‘that job’.

E = Employment Gaps. For many job seekers, this often is a major worry. However, it is best to consider how best you can fill in your employment gaps, by highlighting what else you did i.e. work experience, work placements, training, travelling, writing etc. Try to make the most of the time that employment breaks can give you.

F = Freelancer. A term most commonly associated with Designers, IT professionals, and Techy types, a freelancer is someone who works for themselves, goes between project to project and will invoice clients for their work.

G = Gross Pay. The amount of money per month or per year that you are paid before taxes and other deductions are taken off 🙁

H = Holidays. Once you get a job, you will earn entitlement towards paid days away from work. Hooray.

I = Internship. An in-fashion word for someone on a work experience placement. Can be an unpaid role or paid role; internships have come under considerable criticism in the last few years.

J = Job Application. Instead of requesting a CV (Resume) a company will request that you fill in an application form. Application forms are most commonly used in the public sector or for junior roles.

K = Key words. When you create a CV it is important that you use key words. Imagine your CV is like the search engine results that a recruitment consultant will find when searching online. If you don’t include the correct key words to explain your key skills and experience, you will find it hard to be found!

Continued on page 2…

Pages: 1 2